USPTO Patents Application 09808034

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JonesTu 1 1 er

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Antislip Fabric And Strips of Such Fabric

Background Of The Invention

The present invention relates to the field of garment or clothes and,
more particularly, to an antislip fabric, strips of such fabric useful in
maintaining the wearer's clothes in place to prevent inadvertent
displacement of clothing as they are worn, and garments having such strips.
More particularly, such antislip fabric may be sewn in the inner waist
portion of trouserSp pants, slacks or skirt to prevent unwanted 'Vide" or
movement of shirt or blouse with respect thereto.

When a person bends his or her body, or straightens his or her back,
shirt or blouse has a tendency to gather or ride out of position, creating a
disheveled and unsightly look due to unwanted excess of material outside
of the slacks, trousers or skirt. Therefore, slacks, trousers or skirt must be
readjusted almost every time a person stands from a sitting position.

Various attempts have been made to maintain the shirt or blouse in
proper position with respect to slacks, trousers or skirt, including
attachment of a separate antislip strip to the waist portion of the garment.
Such antishp strips comprise an elastic rubber braid sewn into a fabric tape
in such a manner as to form a frictional surface having a plurality of
spaced-apart nubs thereover. The fiictional surface serves as retaining
means for resisting displacement of adjacent garments so that movement of
the wearer will not displace the garments with respect to each other.

However, such conventional antislip strips have certain drawbacks as
set forth below: First, they do not resist slippage in a satisfactory manner
because the nubs are formed on the fabric strip by sewing an elastic rubber
braid in a zig-zag manner. One attempt to overcome this deficiency of the
conventional strips is to increase the width of the strips for enhanced

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sliding resistance. However, this will render the strip undesirably bulky.
Secondly, antislip strips of increased width do not provide adequate
air-penneability between the wearer'^s body and slacks, trousers or skirt.
Thirdly, when subjected to a dry cleaning process, such antislip strips
become sticky and virtually lose their inherent sliding resistance as the
rubber braids deteriorate due to attack by solvent.

Summary Of The Invention

Therefore, it is the main object of the present invention to overcome
the above-said drawbacks of the prior art and provide improved antislip
fabric and strips of such fabric useful in maintaining the wearer's clothes in
place to prevent inadvertent displacement of clothing as they are worn.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such antislip
fabric which may be sewn into the waist portion of trousers, pants^ slacks
or skirt to prevent imwanted ""tide" or movement of shirt or blouse with
respect thereto.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an
antislip fabric which is highly resistant to solvent during dry cleaning.

The above and other objects can be achieved in accordance with the
present invention which is directed to an improved antislip fabric of the
type capable of maintaining garments such as trousers and shirt or skirt and
blouse in place with respect to each other, comprising two different warp
threads interlaced with weft threads in the form of leno weave. In a
preferred embodiment of the invention, one of the two different warp
threads is polyurethane bare yam and the other of the two different warp
threads is polyurethane double covered yam. Also, the weft threads are
polyester monofilament. The weaving is done to provide a roughened or
irregular surface having a plurality of spaced-apart nubs formed on both
sides of each gap between two adjacent weft threads. The plurality of
spaced-apart nubs are formed by interlacing loose warp threads of
polyurethane bare yam and weak tensioned warp threads of polyurethane
double covered yam with weft threads.

According to a different aspect of the invention, there is provided an
antislip strip useful in maintaining garments such as trousers and shirt or
skirt and blouse in place with respect to each other, wherein the strip is
formed of an antislip fabric comprising two different warp threads

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interlaced with weft threads in the foim of leno weave. In this embodiment,
one of the two different warp threads is polyijrethane bare yam and the
other of the two different warp threads is polyurethane double covered yam.
Also, the weft threads are polyester monofilament. The antislip strip further
comprises two opposed edge portions in the form of plain or hollow weave,
which comprises warp threads of polyester filament and woolie polyester
interlaced with weft threads of polyester monofilament.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is
made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in
which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the
invention may be practiced.

The term "leno weave" used in the following description includes
"plain weave'' in which rotating warp threads are moved with respect to
stationary warp threads every time they are interlaced with a weft thready
and "gauze weave'' in which rotating warp threads are moved with respect
to stationary warp threads every time they are interlaced with a group of
three, five or seven weft threads. The term "lower garments" is understood
to include all garments for covering the lower part of the body, such as
trousers, slacks, pants, skirts, hakamas or the like. The term "kimono'' is
also used to encompass imderwear and underskirts for Japanese-style
kimono.

Brief Description Of The Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a rolled tape formed of antislip fabric
embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the front face of the antislip
fabric shown in Fig- 1;

Fig- 3 is a cross-sectional view as taken along lines H of Fig, 2 ;

Fig, 4 is a front view of a strip of antislip fabric attached to an inner
waist portion of slacks;

Fig, 5 is a top plan view of an under-sash formed of the antislip fabric
embodying the invention; and

Fig. 6 a view usefiil in explaining how the under-sash of Fig. 5 is used
on Japanese-style traditional kimono.

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Description Of The Preferred Embodiment
Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Fig, 1, there is
shown a rolled tape 1 of antislip fabric as constructed in accordance with
the present invention. The tape 1 has a body portion 1 1 in the form of "leno
weave" and two opposed edge portions 12 in the form of "plain weave". It
has a width of 35 mm and is extensible or elastic along the length thereof
It should be noted that when the &bric is produced on a weaving machine^
the upper surface as viewed in Fig. 1 actually faces upwardly in the
machine and also that warp threads extend longitudinally of the tape, or
along the arrow as shown in Fig, 1.

Referring to Figs, 2 and 3, the body portion 11 of the tape 1
comprises weft threads A of polyester monofilament, warp threads B of
polyurethane double covered yam and another warp threads C of
polyurethane bare yam, both of which warp threads B, C are interlaced
with the weft thread A in the form of the leno weave. The polyurethane
double covered yam used as waip threads B comprises a polyurethane bare
yam having polyester fiber wound therearound to form a double layered
coil. Examples of the polyurethane bare yam used as warp threads C
includes yam products having a denier of 840 (HS high-soft, clear type)
sold by Asahi Chemical Co., Ltd, under the trademark ''ROICA". In the
illustrated embodiment, the fabric is woven with a spacing of about 2 ram
between warp threads and a gap 10 between weft threads so as to provide
adequate air-permeability. However, it should be understood that the
present invention is not limited to these spacings between two adjacent
warp or weft threads.

In the body portion 11 of the leno weave, it should be noted that
warp threads B of polyurethane double covered yam and warp threads C of
polyurethane bare yam are interlaced with each other to provide a
roughened or irregular surface on the fabric tape 1 that serves to resist
slippage. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the antislip
fabric is woven by interlacing weak tensioned warp threads B of
polyurethane double covered yam and somewhat loose warp threads C of
polyurethane bare yam with each other to provide a plurality of
spaced-apart nubs 111 of the loose polyurethane bare yam formed on tlie
polyurethane double covered yam. As described above, the spaced-apart
nubs 111 are formed of the polyurethane bare yam which has a high

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filctional resistance. Accordingly, the antislip fabric according to the
invention has a fiictional surfece with a higher fiictional resistance than
conventional antislip tapes comprising a rubber braid sewn into a cloth tape.
The two opposed edge portions 12 of the antislip strip 1 are woven in the
form of plain weave by using polyester monofilament as weft threads and
polyester filament and woolie polyester as warp threads.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the portion of a pair of slacks having
the antisUp strip 1 attached to the inner waist portion thereof. The antislip
strip 1 is sewn into the waist portion with its roughened or irregular surface
feeing inside of the slacks. In the preferred embodiment of the invention,
the sewing of the antislip strip 1 in the waist portion may be done without
stretching the strip. With this antislip strip attached, any puU on a blouse or
a skirt will be resisted by the antislip strip due to fiictional engagement of
the roughened surface against the blouse or tihc skirt.

Since the antislip strip 1 is in the form of leno weave, it is of less
thickness than the conventional two-layered strip comprising a rubber braid
sewn into a cloth tape. Further, the body portion 11 of the antislip strip 1
has gaps 10 formed between each two adjacent weft threads, which means
a less density and weight than the conventional two-layered tape. Thus, the
antislip strip 1 is light in weight and not bulky.

The body portion 11 of the antislip strip I has the roughened or
irregular surface formed by alternate arrangement of nubs 111 and gaps 10
as best seen in Fig. 3. This will provide adequate air-permeabiUty and
hence prevent the strip jfrom becoming stufiy.

The antishp strip 1 employs polyurethane bare yam C which is
highly resistant to solvent for dry cleaning so that subjecting the garments
having such antislip strips attached to repeated dry cleaning would not
distract fi"om shding resistance.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 4, the antislip strip 1 is attached to
the waist portion of the slacks so as to entirely surround it However, it may
be preferable to use more than one shorter antislip strip to partially
surround the waist portion of the slacks so that the girth of the slacks may
be convenientiy adjusted.

In the illustrated embodiment, the antislip strip 1 is elastic and
extensible along the length thereof. However, the antishp strip 1 may not
necessarily be elastic.

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Referring to Fig. 5, an under-sash 3 for maintaining Japanese-style
kimonos in place while being worn is shown with its intermediate portion
cut away for clarity of illustration. The under-sash 3 has a considerable
width and is of adequate length to suixound the abdominal or breast portion
of the wearer. In the illustrated embodiment, the under-sash is about 95 mm
wide and about 700 mm long. However, the invention is not limited to
these dimensions.

The under-sash 3 comprises a body portion 4 having the antislip strip
of the invention attached thereto and fastener portions 5 and 6 formed in
the opposite ends of the under-sash. The body portion 4 is generally in the
form of leno weave at 41 but its opposite edge portions 42 are in the hollow
weave. The edge portions 42 comprise weft threads of polyester
monofilament and warp threads of polyester filament and woolie polyester,
both interlaced with each other in the form of hollow weave.

As shown in Fig. 5, the under-sash 3 has a releasable fastening
means, i.e., a sash clip 5 attached to one end thereof which is in the form of
a hook-type surface fastener 51, and a sash clip 6 attached to the other end
thereof which comprises a loop-type surface fastener 61. Designated at 7
are cloth portions which act to reinforce the attachment portions between
the body portion 4 and the sash clips 5 and 6. The body portion 4 of the
under-sash 3 is woven to be elastic in the longitudinal direction as shown
by the arrow in Fig. 5. The releasable fastening means permits adjustment
of festening strength by changing the relative position of the sash clips 5
and 6.

Referring to Fig. 6, a woman is shown wearing a kimono with an
under-sash 3 surrounding her body just below her breast portion. Prior to
putting on the under-sash 3, it may be preferable to slightly stretch it so that
the inner roughened or irregular surfecc of the under-sash can retain the
kimono in place. The nubs on the roughened or irregular surface are formed
of polyurethane bare yam to provide enhanced sliding resistance.

To capimlate the important features and the resultant advantages of
the present invention:

(a) The present invention provides an improved antislip fabric
which comprises at least two dififerent warp threads interfaced with
weft threads in the form of leno weave to provide a roughened or
irregular surfece having a plurality of spaced-^art nubs formed

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thereon to resist slippage. The plurality of nubs formed by
interweaving the two different warp threads provides enhanced
sliding resistance.

(b) Providing a strip of the present antislip febric on the waist
portion of a lower garment such as slacks or skirt serves to maintain
or retain shirt or blouse in place with respect to the slacks or skirt to
prevent inadvertent displacement or dislodgement of such garments
as they are wom.

The antislip strip is in the form of leno weave so that it is less
thick than conventional two-layered antishp tapes having a rubber
braid sewn into a cloth tape. Further, the antislip strip of leno weave
has gaps between each two adjacent weft tlireads thereby providing
less density and weight than such conventional two-layered antislip
tapes. Furthermore, the rou^ened or irregular surface of the antislip
strip has a plurality of spaced-apart nubs formed between such gaps
to provide adequate air-peameability.

(c) The present invention provides an antislip fabric using
polyurethane bare yam which is resistant to solvent for dry cleaning.
Accordingly, the enhanced shding resistance afforded by this
polyurethane bare yam will not deteriorate through repeated dry
cleaning processes.

While the description above relates to particular embodiments of the
present invention, it will be understood that many modifications may be
made without departing from the spirit thereof The presently disclosed
embodiments are therefore to be considered in all aspects as illustrative and
not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended
claims, rather than the foregoing description, and all changes which come
within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore
intended to be embraced therein,

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